Floods swamp Vietnam as typhoon death toll reaches 27

By Mai Nguyen and Matthew Tostevin HUE, Vietnam (Reuters) - Floods inundated swathes of central and southern Vietnam on Sunday in the wake of a typhoon that left at least 27 dead just days before the region is due to host the APEC summit of Asia-Pacific leaders. Typhoon Damrey, the 12th major storm to hit Vietnam this year, made landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 90 km/h (56 mph) that damaged more than 40,000 homes, knocked down electricity poles and uprooted trees. The communist state's Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention said 27 people were now counted dead and 22 were missing.